Purification and Partial Characterization of a Lectin from the Bark of Japanese Elderberry (Sambucus sieboldiana)

A lectin Sambucus sieboldiana agglutinin (SSA)] was purifiedfrom the twigs of Sambucus sieboldiana by repeated affinitychromatography on fetuin-Sepharose. SSA had a molecular weight(Mr) of approximately 160 K on gel filtration and consistedof two types of subunit of which the molecular weights rangedfrom 31 to 37 K. SSA agglutinated human erythrocytes irrespectiveof their blood type and the hemagglutination was inhibited bya very low concentration of Neu5Ac(2-6)lactose, suggesting thatSSA has a carbohydrate-binding specificity similar to that ofthe lectin previously isolated from the bark of S. nigra (SNA).However, the Ouchterlony double-diffusion analysis of theselectins with an antibody raised against SSA showed that SSAwas immunologjcally related but not identical to SNA. (Received January 17, 1989; Accepted June 19, 1989)